Glossary Term – Person

Henry Clinton (1730–1795) was the commander in chief of the British army from 1778 to 1782. Clinton was sent to the colonies in 1775 to serve under General Thomas Gage. When Gage was replaced by William Howe, Clinton assumed second in command. Clinton was responsible for the British success at Long Island in 1776 that nearly trapped Washington’s army. After Howe resigned in 1778, Clinton became commander in chief. In 1780, Clinton succeeded in capturing Charleston, but that victory was soon overshadowed by Cornwallis’s surrender at Yorktown...

Glossary Term – Person

John Sullivan (1740–1795) was a Continental Army general during the American Revolution who defeated the British-allied Iroquois in New York in 1779. Sullivan served in both the First and Second Continental Congresses and became a brigadier general in the Contintental Army in 1775. He led troops at the Battle of Long Island, at which he was captured but soon released. He also took part in battles at Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, and Germantown. He wintered with Washington at Valley Forge in 1777–1778, and in 1779 was ordered to lead a...

Glossary Term – Person

George Washington (1732–1799) was the commander in chief of the colonial armies during the American Revolution and the first President of the United States of America. Washington was born in Virginia and worked as a land surveyor and planter until he joined the Virginia militia and fought in the French and Indian War (1754–1763). He was elected to the House of Burgesses in 1758 and married Martha Dandridge Custis, a wealthy widow, in 1759. As colonial anger over British rule rose in the 1760s, Washington became a supporter of American...